When it comes to Donald Trump, one thing is certain: He lies. He lies constantly. He lies when it suits him, but also when it hurts him. He lies here or there. He lies anywhere. He would lie in a house, he would lie to a mouse. He would lie in a box, he would lie to a fox.
Many have commented on this compulsive trait, and his seeming lack of a core. Usually, when people lie, it is to hide their true self or true views; with Trump, there simply doesn't seem to be any truth there at all. We lie to protect something, he lies because there's nothing to protect. It reminds me of the famous quote from Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho: "...there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there."
What this means for political analysis of Trump is that it is widely assumed that he doesn't mean any of his campaign rhetoric or any of his promises.
Even though Trump has said everything and anything, a few clear themes have managed to emerge from his campaign thus far: The rejection of immigration, naked appeals to white identity politics, protectionism, and contempt for elites are all part of the familiar mix of American politics, under the heading of "populism." The impression is that Trump, as a businessman, saw a business opportunity and seized it, and gave the people what they wanted. But if he'd had a better path to political power by running on a moderate platform, he would have done that.
Indeed, he has encouraged that impression, calling his positions — like building a wall to keep out immigrants — mere "suggestions," or even saying one thing and the opposite thing at the same time, like when he proclaimed that America has too many immigrants and offering as a policy option a "touchback amnesty" program that would leave America with the same number of immigrants.
He has even all but said during the primary that he would "pivot" to a different set of positions during the general election. But what if that was the lie? After all, Trump has done nothing but double down on perhaps his most inflammatory and divisive promise: a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
And finally, there's the total absence of the promised general election pivot. Instead of moderating his positions, of trying to walk them back, of issuing big speeches on various topics where he could stake out more moderate positions, he has been doubling down on the same rhetoric.
Donald Trump's entire worldview, as can be determined from his entire life and public record, is pretty much of one thing: the worship of strength. Hence the obsession with status, wealth, and fame. Hence the misogyny, the racism, and the bullying.
Text extracted from: theweek.com.
Fuente: theweek.com
